I went into labor the day after Thanksgiving four years ago. My mother-in-law eventually made me call my husband home from work, and the next day, we welcomed LittleBrother into the world — into our family.

It’s been an interesting year with Booey. He’s full of spunk and pizzazz and attitude and chutzpah and Booey-ness. He is very much so his own little person, and bless your poor soul if you try to help him zip his jacket. “I can do it mineself!” Foot stomping good time, it has been. Let me tell you.

He tells jokes — including fart jokes. And, uh, other jokes. According to him, he can read. Actually, according to him, he can do anything his older brother can do — and sometimes things his brother can’t do. He’s big. He’s bold. He’s not scared of anything.

But he’s a lover too. No less than once a day he tells me, “Mommy, you’re beautiful.” After the umpteenth “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,” just about when I’m ready to snap, he says, “I love you, Mommy.” When I do something that he thinks is good, he praises me. He cuddles. He kisses. He hugs. He loves. He is tender and kind-hearted and, despite that mischievous grin, he’s really a good boy.

This year he shares his birthday with Thanksgiving, and let me tell you, we are thankful for all that he is to us.

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At the very least, he’s not shorted on what’s inside the presents, so that counts for something. Mental note: Buy lots of non-Christmas wrapping paper in early November next year.

Reason #1240 It Stinks to Be the Younger Brother is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

First and foremost: Some aspects of the Mario birthday party are easier thanks to the release of Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros. Wii in the past few years. Birthday Express is where I ordered our Super Mario Bros. party supplies from, and I was pleased with them. (Of note: They also have a Mario Kart birthday set.) Now that I’ve got the first and foremost out: I never just rely on a kit birthday set.

I bought two sets of dinner plates featuring Mario, two sets of dessert plates featuring Luigi, and two sets of napkins (mushrooms!). I then filled out the rest of the plates with red and green (Mario and Luigi), red and green cups, and red and green silverware. I’ve always done this. It’s one way to add characters to a party without spending an arm and a leg. Adults don’t need character plates anyway, though I was happy to have a mushroom napkin. 1 up! I got some red and green table covers and some red and green streamers as well to round out the whole Mario and Luigi feel of the room.

I kept the balloons to a minimum because there are no local places that actually fill balloons anymore, and as such we had to buy our own helium tank. I filled a few red, a few green, a few blue and white cloud baloons and the two Mario and Luigi mylar balloons I bought to match the theme.

One great thing that I encountered while planning this party was Pinterest. This is the first year that I’ve thrown the boys’ birthday party since Pinterest has been in existence. I will tell you this: It’s a double edged sword. I found a ton of amazing cake ideas. I honestly wanted to make my famous rainbow cake (think Rainbow Road!) with blue icing and stars (original link), but I hit a brick wall as the date for the party came and decided to order a cake. As I stood at a local bakery, looking through their cake sets, the lady said to me, “Isn’t Mario a little out-dated?” I may have had a slightly snippy tone when I replied, “Well, they released a new game last year, so no.” In short: no cake set. So I ordered two sets of Super Mario Bros. figures to set on top of the ordered cake. Problem solved.

I also put Mario and Luigi on top of the top cupcake on my cupcake holder. I did make the cupcakes myself; as the cake was chocolate, I made Martha’s vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing, and, in a stroke of timing win, I covered them with red and green sprinkles. What’s the perfect time of year to throw a Mario (red) and Luigi (green) party? Right before Christmas! Score! So stock up in the after-season sales if you know a child in your house is going to want a Mario Bros. party in the next year.

I briefly considered this crazy Mario cupcake spread (original link), but again, I just didn’t have it in me to pull that off.

I hate party games, but kids love party games and so — party games it was! We played Pin the Mustache on Mario. You can print a mustache template. I ordered Mario silk poster that we stuck on the wall for the game. It’s actually high quality and will be going up in the boys’ playroom. Cutting out 30 mustaches was exhausting, and I had initially planned on making a bucket of mustaches on sticks for people to hold up for pictures. Yet another project that ended up getting scrapped because I value my sanity.

The other party game we played was rather easy: Find the gold coins! The boys hid a bunch (150+) gold coins around the room while the adults did the other decorating in honor of how Mario and Luigi’s goal in life is to collect the most gold coins. (Well, and save the Princess.) The problem I ran into with this game is that the boys “hid” the coins in not so hidden places. As such, the kids had been finding them well before the game kicked off. One of the older kids (a tween) at the party helped us out and re-hid the already found one. As such, a tip: Kick off the party with the “find the coins” game.

The party goodie bags were the biggest Pinterest win-slash-fail that I found for my party. I absolutely fell in love with these adorable Mario mushroom goodie bags (original link via Etsy). I didn’t put the eyes on my goodie bags for this reason: I put hours and hours and hours into the bags that I eventually ended up with in the end. I only payed for the brown lunch bags as I had the red, green and white foam hanging around the house. As our parties are big (two kids = twice the party gueses), I had to make 26 bags. I probably had 12 hours tied into these bags. My tip: Use something stronger than Elmer’s school glue sticks. The Elmer’s craft glue sticks actually worked much better. But still? I’m really, really proud of them.

I served a lot of good food. Pizza from our favorite local pizza place, Wally’s, my own variation of Simply Recipe’s Baked Ziti, a very big veggie tray, my buffalo dip, my mom’s clam dip, hummus, salsa, guacamole, ranch dip, and various chips and pretzels. We also had red and green M&M’s (again, Mario and Luigi meet Christmas) and a great mix of peanuts and such from my grandmother-in-law. I almost made a double batch of buffalo dip, but doubted myself — and I should have. It was gone very quickly. In short, the food was a hit — and I actually ate some.

In short: It was a really great party. All of the little things that some people make fun of me for doing came together to make a really nice party for a bunch of little kids. You can also check out my Mario and Luigi Birthday Party Pinterest board. And really, it comes down to these two little guys having a great time.

They loved their party so hard, and that’s what matters most to me!

How I Threw a Super Mario Bros. Birthday Party is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

The last one we have is this gem from BigBrother’s first birthday party:

Classic.

So, I was happy to get a picture with both of my birthday boys and my husband yesterday. We should probably remember to do this every year and not just every five years. Goodness.

Happy Birthday Party Family is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

Just Give Them Balloons Next Year is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

I looked at him and agreed. “Totally.”

After school as we walked back to our car, he took off running. “I’m faster now, Mom!”

“Yes, yes you are.”

As we got ready to go to the fire department to have cupcakes and open his presents with FireDad, he followed every instruction I have him — the first time. “Do you know why I’m listening so well, Mommy?”

“Why, Buddy?”

“Because I’m six.”

I could get used to this.

Happy Birthday, my BigBrother.

Six is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

And so far, I’ve had the best week of my 30′s.

Sure, I’ve been 30 for all of four days… but trust me, I just set the bar pretty high.

30 is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

And yes we stayed in our jammies all day. Snow Day + one of my regular days off from the office = kickin’ it pajama style.

The boys made them — seven of them. I just broke the eggs. So they’re lumpy and imperfect, which someone told me is perfect in itself. We’ll each eat one after supper tonight.

I froze to death capturing the annual cupcake in the snow picture. I used my heart bokeh filter, which isn’t overtly obvious — until you look a bit closer — and you can see love everywhere, even falling from the sky.

Happy Birthday, Munchkin. Always in my heart.

When Advent and Birthdays Coincide is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

You’re finally three! Hooray! Watching your excited face take in the fact that you are no longer two this morning was precious.

Of course, your birthday is kind of anti-climactic for me too. You’ve been acting like a three year old for weeks, nay, months now. Oh yeah. You’re an overachiever indeed. But it’s okay. Despite the argumentative nature of being three, you’ve managed to hold on to some sweetness.

You amaze us all the time.

People think you’re the quiet one compared to your brother. In fact, we used to think that as well. Perhaps that’s why you have decided to bring on the noise and bring on the funk. You, my son, are loud. And not really in a bad way, unless I’m trying to have a conference call and seem halfway professional. No, your loud is just that loud of a boy who loves to live. Loudly and fully. I can appreciate that.

This year has brought many changes for you. I am thrilled that you are loving preschool. I was worried, I’ll admit, thinking your shyness (despite your newfound volume) might hinder your experience. Your teachers might say, “What shyness?” Yeah, you’re coming out of your shell at preschool just like BigBrother did. I have loved hearing about your day when you come home; your words make me smile.

Speaking of words, holy vocab, Batman. You take the “boys aren’t verbal” stereotype and jump all over it while reciting whatever book we are reading at the present moment. Not that your brother isn’t verbal (Lord help us, he is), but you take everything he says and add in your own commentary as well. You’ve exceeded parrot status and are just rocking your own set of words.

And all of your “stuff” that you’ve done this year (potty training being my favorite) can’t even compare to just how generally awesome you truly are. I love that you are funny and silly and, yes, even grumpy. Mainly because however you are feeling, you can’t have a conversation without say to me or Daddy, “I love you.”

And you’re a ham. (And, really, kind of the instigator…)

And we love that about you.

Maybe by the time you’re four you’ll master looking at the camera the way you did when you were a newborn.

Maybe…

And even if you don’t (please, please do…), we love you, so very much.

Happy Birthday, Booey!

Love,
Mommy

Happy 3rd Birthday, LittleBrother! is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

You see, BigBrother’s birthday was last Wednesday. LittleBrother was dismayed to find out that it was not his birthday. In fact, he broke down in hysterical sobs on FireDad’s shoulder because he so desperately wanted to be three. He was calm and well-behaved while BigBrother opened his presents in the evening, however. The next morning? More tears and woe that it wasn’t his birthday. Friday? Same thing.

And then came Saturday! It wasn’t his birthday, but it was the day of the boys’ joint birthday party. He was very excited of course. As we went to insert candles in cupcakes, counting them out for each boy, I asked LittleBrother how old he was. “TWO!” Well, yeah, but how old on Wednesday. “Oh, three.”

And then Sunday morning? Not his birthday again. Tears and woe.

This morning, being Monday? Not his birthday again… but! Due to the Thanksgiving party at preschool on Wednesday, his actual birthday, his teacher asked if we could bring in cupcakes to share with the class today. And so we did. He got to share his cupcakes, have a birthday song and wear the birthday hat… on Not His Birthday.

Tomorrow, I am quite certain, will result in some tears and woe again in the morning.

By the time Wednesday rolls around, the poor kid isn’t going to even care that it’s his birthday. Anti-Climactic Birthday indeed. Thankfully I don’t work that evening, so we should be able to make it somewhat special for LittleBrother. He’ll get to pick dinner (ten bucks says he picks the same place as BigBrother did last Wednesday). We’ll have some special cake. He’ll finally get to open his presents from us.

And then he won’t have to examine his brother’s empty envelopes in hopes of finding something at the very bottom.

Oh, Booey. It will be your day soon. And I promise will make it Super Awesome.

The Anti-Climactic Birthday is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.